


Must Be Fate

by Zaphirite



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Eavesdropping, F/M, Ladybug is bullied by a tiny cat, Overheard Confessions, Plagg is a terrible kwami, Secretly Wingmanning, Unresolved Tension, With the best interests in mind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2019-01-20 02:39:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12423369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zaphirite/pseuds/Zaphirite
Summary: Plagg realizes he's on the love square tilt-a-whirl and he wants off, now.(ML Remix 2k17!)





	Must Be Fate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [a_miiraculer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_miiraculer/gifts).
  * Inspired by [must be love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10638069) by [a_miiraculer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_miiraculer/pseuds/a_miiraculer), [clairelutra (exosolarmoon)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/exosolarmoon/pseuds/clairelutra). 



> Fun fact: Plagg is the character I have the most fun writing for. Hope you enjoy!

Plagg loved his chosen, really he did. Adrien was just a little oblivious.

Okay, maybe not just a little. Maybe a whole lot. Or maybe being exceptionally perceptive was one of the many perks of being a deity of entropy.

The old man chose Adrien in a seemingly random way, but Plagg found a familiar spark in his eyes at the chance at freedom - just as bright and relentless as all the black cat heroes before him.

Must be fate that led them to each other after all.

Judging by what just transpired today though, it seems that Plagg was also fated to suffer from each of his chosen. He wasn't sure yet if this was any more torment than one of his past chosen that practically coined the term “tomcat”.

Come on - it was _clearly_ a look of recognition that dawned on Ladybug’s face before they parted for the night. Chat made an off-hand remark that would have gone unnoticed except by the one that knew him best.

Particularly a little lady that knew Chat and Adrien better than he was ever aware of.

That familiar deer in the headlights look that followed the realization on her face pretty much confirmed it. A certain designer was a not-so-normal girl with a not-so-normal double life.

Not that it needed any more confirming. Call it a kwami’s intuition. Or maybe just call it one too many designs inspired by akuma with details the Ladyblog never posted. Plagg knew this for sure - Adrien poured over that site every time something was uploaded, but he was probably too distracted by his beloved to ever notice.

So this was all a ridiculous love square.

Blegh. Plagg needed some cheese to cure the headache coming on.

The kwami came back into material existence as Chat Noir’s costume melted away. Adrien immediately plopped down in his computer chair, sighing and stretching with his arms over his head and toes pointed out. He recollected his limbs and placed his fingers over the keyboard, staring at the login screen.

He was still for a couple seconds too long.

Plagg picked up a piece of cheese from the container on the desk and floated up next to his partner’s head, but Adrien didn't turn to look. The boy’s eyebrows were knit together in thought, his jaw tight with his lips set in a frown.

“Hey Plagg,” Adrien started, expression unchanging as he continued thinking, “Do you think Ladybug was acting a little bit… odd during patrol today?”

Plagg’s ear twitched to the side, hearing scratching and the softest of gasps from outside the open window.

Oh? The cat’s mouth quirked up into a smirk. Looks like someone came by to confirm things herself. Busted, little lady.

“Nope,” Plagg answered, quickly finishing the piece of camembert he held in one gulp and zipping down to look for more, “can’t say I do.”

A sigh. Adrien’s focused expression softened. “But I could have sworn…”

“Nahhh, you’re just imagining it,” the kwami insisted.

Plagg dug around in the pile of empty containers and wrappers, tossing them all over the desk and making sure to throw some wrappers over the tablet in the corner. Perfect.

He glanced up at Adrien, surprised that even this mess couldn’t catch his attention. “Hey, is there any more cheese?”

Adrien finally looked down at his kwami, sighing before getting up. He walked over to the fridge, and with his back turned Plagg took the chance to check if the tablet was completely hidden from sight,

The new container of cheese was placed on the table a moment later. “There you go, knock yourself out.”

Plagg quickly attacked the packaging and picked up a few pieces of precious cheese, then dived right into his new hiding spot. He instantly stuffed one in his mouth, relishing in the flavor, before remembering his task. A few taps of his paw on the tablet opened up the security system, but the cameras pointing around Adrien’s room were all clear.

The only large blind spot in the cameras was one corner underneath the giant window.

Plagg was so astonished that his mouth missed the next bite of cheese he was about to take.

It took Adrien some time to learn how to weave around the cameras, so how many times did Ladybug come by unnoticed to figure that out herself?

Not to mention, they at least had access to the camera feed for reference.

...This girl was scary smart and determined. Tikki probably had her hands more than full with this bug.

Oblivious, Adrien pushed his chair back and forth instead of sitting back down. "I mean, she doesn't usually stutter, does she? Do you think I said something weird?”

Plagg turned off the tablet and emerged from his cover.

Oh, right. That other thing he said. The one that reminded him of ol’ Tomcat in the first place. To think Ladybug was totally fine hearing lines like “You can tie me up anytime,” from Adrien in leather and a mask until today. Wasn’t finding out that someone dashing and daring also had a soft side supposed to be endearing or something?

For the first time, Ladybug seemed like she actually considered the thought. Thank the gods Adrien couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Plagg already gave him enough alone time as it is.

"Well," Plagg said as he stuffed another portion of cheese in his mouth, "you're already pretty weird. If she still accepts you now, I don't think you have to worry about throwing her off with that."

Adrien stopped pushing his chair, now putting his weight on it to focus all attention to glare at his kwami.

“Gee, thanks Plagg.”

“Anytime.”

Adrien slouched over with a sigh. He looked down, adopting the same focused look as before. "Okay, but if it wasn't me, then what _was_ it?"

"Maybe she was hungry," Plagg suggested. Maybe she was some kind of hungry if she was willing to learn how to bypass the security system like that just to see Adrien.

Actually, that ‘maybe’ sounded a lot more like a ‘definitely’.

"No, Plagg, I don't think she was hungry."

Adrien twisted the chair around to slump over the back. His hair was pushed out of place as he turned his head to the side to look out the window, strands sticking up in every direction.

"...Do you think..." Adrien’s breath hitched, his eyes lowering, then picking back up again to peer into the evening sky. There was something glimmering in his eyes, and it wasn’t the city lights creeping in from the open window. "Do you think she..."

Plagg knew that look. He’s seen it so many times since that very first day together, along with the same hesitant hope present in the boy’s voice. And like always...

"...Nah," Adrien quietly dismissed, burying his face in his arms, "Couldn't be."

Plagg barely caught the strangled breath from outside the window.

Come on Ladybug, that's it?! What happened to all the freak outs when she was in civilian mode? Something, anything, some kind of weird noise to make Adrien check the window?

Did knowing Adrien was Chat really make her hesitate?

Or was it still that something else? She couldn't tell him, even if she wanted to. The rule that Ladybug set between the two heroes was for a good reason. Just one akuma with the right abilities, or just the wrong person finding out…

Ladybug really wanted to protect everything dear to her, even if it meant not taking this painfully open chance.

Fate brought them together, and fate decided to be a jerk.

The pang of something heavy surged in Plagg’s chest. Something like guilt that left an awful taste in his mouth.

"Nice to see you sticking with reality," Plagg offered back, shoving these thoughts aside.

"Look," said Adrien, "if I'd _finally_ managed to get her to look at me, there'd be a little warning, wouldn't there?"

Really? Plagg stared straight at Adrien in disbelief.

The kwami shook his head, quipping, “It's not like you'd know either way.”

"Oh, wow, thanks," Adrien shot back before scrolling through the Ladyblog forums. Almost inaudible over the sound of typing, he quietly added, "It was just a thought."

A shaky sigh from outside barely caught in the kwami’s ears. Plagg stayed silent, glancing between his ward and the window before trying to inch towards the window to take a peek.

"...She's amazing, isn't she?" Adrien’s voice practically floated like clouds, a complete change from moments ago.

Another strange noise from out the window. Plagg didn’t have to look at the screen to know what Adrien was up to, because what else would he be doing? “Here we go again…”

Suddenly there was frantic scrabbling against the outside wall. If he had blinked, Plagg would have missed the red mask peek over the ledge before the heroine's fingers slipped.

He couldn’t take this any longer. As his kwami he was forbidden from saying anything to Adrien, but if Adrien found out himself it would solve everything. This was so complicated and yet it could be just so _simple_ if Adrien had any sense of awareness-

"Look, kid," the kwami sighed, rubbing his paws on his forehead and using every fiber of control in his body to not snap, "Just. Tell her how you feel and be done with it already. It's been forever. Either she's gonna accept you or she isn't."

"...C'mon Plagg," Adrien laughed softly, in a way that didn’t sound like laughter at all and more like resignation, "I'm not going to ruin us over something like that."

Ruin.

Plagg huffed at the word.

(The memory of Heracles awakening from Hera’s spell of madness. The way Saya's body crumpled at echoes of phantom pains upon hearing the entire world was about to be thrown into war once again-)

Plagg and his past partners embodied ruin.

And when Adrien said it like that, trying to brush it off with the glimmer dimming in his eyes, Plagg believed him just the same. The boy already resided in a home of ruin, no matter how much the polished floors shined. Adrien was genuinely scared of everything between him and Ladybug coming to ruin at his touch like the power bestowed in his claws.

Adrien could have happiness. Adrien could have everything good that he deserved. Plagg couldn’t give him that on his own. Lucky Charm may not be able to fix everything, but the hero listening outside sure could do something about this.

...or maybe there was something he could do about it.

He was only forbidden to tell Adrien about Ladybug’s identity. But since Ladybug knew it was Adrien, she’s fair game, right?

Sorry Tikki. If he was going to be stuck on this love-square tilt-a-whirl, he was going to find a way to have fun with it.

"Is there more cheese?" Plagg asked, knowing fully that he finished off the rest of the cheese in the mini-fridge here.

"In the kitchen," Adrien droned.

Plagg hovered up high enough to approach the window without drawing attention from either hero. Just a meter more closer…

Well, look what we have here.

Ladybug was perched right where Plagg had expected, back against the building. Even luckier for him, because just from his odd angle the fraction of her face he could see was changing expressions like a kaleidoscope. It was like she was arguing with herself, but more than anything she looked hopeful.

Plagg had to hold in a laugh when her eyebrow wriggled like Chat did when he did his smooth talk. Ladybug’s face froze in a grimace and she slapped a hand over her reddening cheek.

Maybe Adrien wasn’t the one that needed a nudge after all.

Plagg grinned, zipping quickly through the walls to do as he said he would, quickly retrieving his prized food and dropping it off on on a nearby table. He slowly headed towards the window again, lower this time.

“Look,” Plagg said loudly, “Are you gunna mope forever or are you gunna do something about it? Cuz this? It’s really boring.”

“I told you already, Plagg-”

“I didn’t say you had to confess right now, just like…” Plagg dragged on as he perched himself on the ledge, peering down at the heroine, “...go _outside_ or something, and stop staring at those pictures of _Ladybug_.”

Ladybug’s head slowly craned to look up at him. Plagg’s straight face widened in a grin as her eyes met his.

Hello there, little canary. Didn’t you know this was cat territory?

He was close enough now to hear her audibly gulp.

"Plagg, this is what I _always_ do when we get back," said Adrien in the distance, only mildly confused at his kwami’s words. “Plus, you always complain you’re too exhausted to transform again.”

Ladybug seemed to have missed this juicy bit of information. The heroine tried to flatten herself as much as she could against the ledge of the window, clearly more aware how doomed she was.

Tikki would be more than furious, a voice said in the back of Plagg’s head. He ignored it, reasoning they wouldn’t be able to see each other again for ages if he didn’t do this.

Right, that’s a good reason to be tormenting her ward like this. It’s all justified in the end.

“Nah, I’m feeling restless for some reason.”

His haunches raised and his front paws crouched low, poised and ready to pounce. He was, after all, a cat with cornered prey.

Now, little canary, what will you do?

To seal the deal, Plagg called loudly with a Cheshire grin, “Come on, Adrien. Let’s go _play_!”

“Plagg! What’s gotten into you?” Adrien’s voice snapped behind them. The wheels scraped loudly against the floor and with the nearing footsteps, Plagg was pretty sure Ladybug forgot how to breathe.

The fear steeping in Ladybug’s veins seemed to have reached it’s peak - it was fight or flight and her instincts told her to _fly_.

Plagg cackled loudly as she wrangled her yo-yo into her hands and flung it to the nearest building. Her legs scrambled for purchase against Adrien’s wall with stealth thrown to the wind, launching off awkwardly.

Ladybug sailed off and tumbled out of sight onto a rooftop as Adrien approached the window.

Plagg couldn’t help but smirk at the distant, pained “Oof!” only he could hear.

Adrien leaned out the window and then looked down at his kwami suspiciously. “Plagg? What are you grinning at?”

The kwami sighed as he caught his breath. “Am I? Anyway, I think I am kind of tired after all.”

Adrien knew something was up, but he didn’t press it. “Didn’t you want to-?”

“I said never mind!”

Plagg floated past Adrien and curled up on the desk with the same grin. Ladybug probably was scrambling home so she could ask Tikki what to do. But the message was delivered - Ladybug knows and she knows that he knows, so she has to do something now.

Tikki would probably nag him to let fate take its course. If you asked Plagg, the end goal’s the same, so why not make it a more interesting story along the way?

Sure, he played around a bit, but he still got the job done.

...at least until Tikki comes after him. But hey, it’s all worth it in the end, so he doesn’t mind becoming the prey later. 


End file.
